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Sunday, 22 September 2013

I've got a fragrance review for you lot today and we all know how brilliant i
am at those.... (not!). CK One Shock is a fragrance I've looked over so many times
in the past purely because of packaging. With all the pretty fancy bottles
floating around the perfume market currently you can really see why I'd never
given Shock a sniff up until now. The bottle, while not being hideous is pretty
darn plain, its inoffensive but fails to catch the eye which is a shame because
it smells bloody lovely!

How the experts describe it:

"A juicy, flavourful
floriental that warms into a sexy skin musk. CK One Shock For Her opens with a
fierce bouquet of passionflower, pink peony, and jewelled poppy flower. The
intensity deepens with blackberry, jasmine and narcisse flower drizzled with a
liquid accord. The addictive signature finishes with magnetic ambers enveloped
in vanillin and patchouli, wrapped in second skin musk." (Notes taken from ThePerfumeShop
website)

My
nose strangely picks up a strong lemony scent which i adore, to me its like a
lemony cake scent rather than harsh lemon. I also pick up the blackberry and an overall fruity feel to the fragrance. I'm not a big fan of floral and luckily my
nose doesn't pick up those notes. Its not the most sophisticated of fragrances,
its sweet and fresh, perfect for day time wear and I've been wearing it every
day without fail. I adore it. Its a scent i don't get sick off, i just
wish the bottle was prettier or the smaller sizes worked out as great value for
money as this giant 200ml bottle does. Its definitely not handbag friendly and
will fade after a good few hours but those little downfalls aside, i just love it!

Pricewise this is a pretty purse friendly perfume at around £30 for a whopping 200ml! I am working my way through the bottle pretty fast though... If you love fruity, sweet fragrances i really recommend giving this a sniff. The bottle may not be the most enticing but i personally think it is a really lovely scent, maybe not the most sophisticated but definitely a winner for me. I plan to grab a Travelo just so i can throw some of this fruity goodness in my handbag!

Tuesday, 17 September 2013

The John Frieda Full Repair* range has been on my radar for quite some time, but over the last year or so I've been pretty much stuck in my ways when it came to haircare. I was extremely excited to try this range as it had been something I'd been meaning to pick up for a good few months, so was overjoyed to be sent some to test out. For reference i have thin, over processed, coloured hair that although it is damaged is prone to greasiness... Wow that was a mouthful! In other words, my hair is a pain in the bum.

I love volumising and nourishing/strengthening hair products, but most of the time i have to choose just one which can be quite annoying. I'd previously use a more nourishing shampoo and conditioner plus a thickening spray or vice versa... Its a lot of products. So to find a range that has volumising and repairing qualities within the same product line is a pretty rare find for me.

John Frieda - Full Repair Shampoo and Conditioner* - £6.99 each

I popped all my regular shampoo and conditioner away for a good few weeks while testing these out and I've actually not hooked them back out yet, so safe to say this little review is going to be on the positive side!

"Bodifying formula, with Inca Oil rich in omega-3, repairs the look and feel of over styled hair as it weightlessly restores bounce for full, flowing styles. Detangles strands, reducing the risk of breaking and snagging when combing or brushing."

Simply put, I'm a fan. I normally opt for a more clarifying shampoo as i find the majority of brands I've tried tend to weigh my extremely fine hair down. I'm happy to say this isn't the case with Full Repair! It lathers up a treat and has a nice fresh fragrance that i quite enjoy. It is also safe for colour or chemically treated hair, which is a god send considering just how much dye and bleach my hair has seen over the past few years. I may sound crazy here, but while lathering up it does give your hair that feel certain thickening shampoos do (i can't be the only one who notices things like this?) which i quite like as the other ingredients like Inca Oil work to leave you hair feeling thicker and healthier without feeling heavy.

The conditioner gets a thumbs up from me too, I've not tried anything quite like it before. Its nourishing without adding weight to the hair, for such a lightweight formula its surprising how soft and healthy it actually leaves my hair, I'm impressed. I still like to use my home made purple hair mask once a week to eliminate any brassiness that comes alongside with being blonde, but other than that I've been using these two pretty steadily for the past three weeks or so.

John Frieda - Full Repair Repairing Oil Elixir* - £9.99

We all love a good hair oil and this one is no exception. I was a little bit sceptical about the results i was going to get with the Repairing Oil Elixir as I've been using the same oil for a good few years now, but yet again i was pleasantly surprised.

It claims to"Reverse the look and feel of damage with every use"which is a pretty big statement to make. I've been using this on wet hair, just a small pump through my mid lengths and ends after every wash. It has a thinner consistency to a lot of the oils that I've tried and having ridiculously thin hair i actually prefer the texture of the John Frieda offering. A lot of thicker oils i have to be incredibly careful with the amount i apply otherwise i look like a greasy mess... A small pump is ample enough for my hair and with the bottle being a generous 100ml i think this is going to last me an awfully long time, so great value for money there.

Overall I'm pretty darn impressed with John Freida's Full Repair range, so impressed that when I'm done with these I'll definitely be repurchasing them. The hair snob in me has well and truly been proven wrong and i actually think these out perform my more expensive shampoos and conditioners, so in future I'll be saving my pennies and picking some more of these up when I'm next in Boots!

For more information on the Full Repair or other John Frieda ranges check out their website and how to oil dry hair.

Monday, 9 September 2013

I'm a little late on the blogging bandwagon on this one. Believe it or not the new blush offering from Benefit has been sat in my stash for a good month or so now, i snagged it online whilst Debenhams had their little presale and its been sat on top of my blogging pile since. Like everyone else i was ridiculously excited when Benefit announced the release of this, that was dampened slightly by the lessening of product (Rockateur only contains 5g of product rather than the regular 8g most Benefit boxed blushes boast).

Rockateur is a lovely peachy, rose gold with an almost bronzy hue and strangely i have nothing in my collection similar to it. I have quite a substantial collection when it comes to blushes so to me this is quite a unique one. The box design simply isn't my cup of tea, i find the snakeskin (?) print and the pink and black lace a little tacky, but thats just me. I really appreciate the slight change in packaging in recent years to include a little mirror which is always handy for on the go applications. I just wish the lid still comes completely off as mine doesn't seem to sit right so i have to be careful shutting it as to not tear one side of it. Only little packaging grumbles really.

For some reason this was a hard one to photograph, especially in the swatches as my camera (or lack of photography skills more like) was not having any of it, so apologies for that.

Product-wise to be perfectly honest, I'm not really in love with this blush. It leaves a nice natural rosey flush to the cheeks, the shimmer isn't overly offensive and looks well... nice? Don't get me wrong, i normally love Benefit's boxed blushes as Coralista and Bella Bamba are some of my all time favourites from any brand but i guess I'm just not feeling Rockateur. I use my Real Techniques blush brush and find i have to try and build it up to get any sort of noticeable colour on my cheek, which is normally great for a heavy handed clown like me but I just feel it takes a little more effort than other Benefit blushes. I'm also on the casper side of pale, so having a blush show up on me shouldn't really be an issue. Saying that, for a more subtle cheek it does look lovely and I've been actively trying to reach for this blush for the past few weeks to see if I can make it really work for me.

Overall i think Rockateur would work great for people that want an easy, subtle flushfor everyday wear. Personally I'm not overly fussed with it although it is a pretty unique shade. I'd wear it but out of all of Benefit's offerings i think there are much better blushes to choose from. Priced at £23.50 Benefit boxed powders are on the pricier side of the blush scale. I really did want to love this, but for some reason i just couldn't!

Sunday, 1 September 2013

This is my not so little collective haul that has been building up for a good 6 - 8 weeks. It wasn't until i put everything together i realised how much I've actually spent lately.... ooops!

Needless to say I'm on a bit of a ban now, but my gosh those Mac Retro Matte lipsticks look gorgeous. Anyways! I thought I'd share with you today the beauty bits and bobs that I've been spending my pennies on lately. My bank account is well and truly weeping...

CK One Shock for Her - £29.99 for 299ml

Sometimes i overlook fragrances purely because the bottle doesn't appeal to me, shows how much we actually depend on packing to sell us things! But i randomly had a little sniff of this beauty in Debenhams the other week and fell in love! The £55 price tag put me off slightly and i managed to find this online for a much more affordable £29.99. I'll be reviewing this in full very soon so won't go into detail on it but its an overly sweet, fruity fragrance so its definitely my cup of tea! Just need to buy a Travalo now since I'm not lugging around this massive 200ml bottle!

Viva La Juicy Noir - £56 for 100ml

I'd amounted a ton of Debenhams points, they needed spending, so this is what i got! I'm a big fan of the regular Viva La Juicy fragrance and this one is even sweeter. Needless to say, I'm a fan! Full review again coming up soon!I even nabbed some cheeky extra bonus points (from spending points, i know, brilliant!) and a free gift.

I love me some Disney. I also love me a sale so i just couldn't resist these little beauties! I picked up two lip glosses (says the girl who doesn't generally like gloss) for mere £1.50 each! They had a ton of shades but i just couldn't leave The Little Mermaid ones there, could i?! I also snagged two of their four pan palettes in Midnight Hour and Enchanted kiss which are a neutral and a smokey grey/blue palette. These remind me SO much of the Sugarpill palettes in packaging and pan size. These were reduced to a ridiculous £3 each down from £12, BARGAIN!

Repurchases!

You all know I'm a big Korean BB Cream fan and I was running out of both of my favourites so i decided to stock up! You can find these from this eBay seller or if you're not a fan of eBay KC Beautique stock them in the UK at very reasonable prices!

Sugarpill Asteria Pigment

A lovely lady in a makeup group I'm part of picked up a few extras of these while they were on sale, so i just had to! It is gorgeous! If you'd like a review let me know!

Benefit Rockateur Blush £23.50

I jumped on the Rockateur bandwagon, can't wait to test this little beauty out!

MAC Lipsticks £9

My CCO had some good shit! All the boxed products are from my CCO and i was gobsmacked to actually see they had some stuff in stock i wanted. Pink Pigeon and Party Parrot lipstick? Yes please! We all know how much i love my mattes.I also picked up two of the Archies Girl lipsticks from another lovely lady in my makeup group who was destashing. I'd lusted over these when they were released, so i couldn't pass them up this time! The shades are Daddy's Little Girl and Betty Bright. Its safe to say i DO NOT NEED any more MAC lipsticks, or lipsticks in general for that matter!

MAC Pressed Pigment in Light Touch £11

Bit of an impulse buy. It reminds me slightly of the much moaned about UD eyeshadow Midnight Cowboy Rides Again (which i actually adore). Its a very odd texture and apparently meant to be used as a highlighter. But this glorious, glittery mess will be going all over me lids!

Mac Blush in Immortal Flower £12

Another impulse buy.... I just can't help myself. I only actually own one Mac blush in Dollymix so i thought this was a good opportunity to rectify this. This and the pressed pigment were both CCO finds.

Nars Ride Up To The Moon Palette £31

Did i need this? No. Was i enticed by the gorgeous goldish neutrals... yes. I'm weak, okay?! This is my first delve into Nars eye shadows, I'm kinda hoping i don't like them because they are expensive and my god this palette is tiny. Such beautiful colours though! Full review coming soon.

Nars Light Reflecting Loose Setting Powder £25

I lusted, i lusted, i lusted, i got it.

I'm a sucker for anything mango scented or anything tropical really. I can't remember exact prices for these as I think there were multiple offers on at the Body Shop at the time i purchased. If you're a fan of mango i well suggest you go have a sniff.